JANUARY 6, 2021: OCCUPIED, VANDALISED. On January 6, 2021, angry supporters of US President Donald Trump violently occupied and vandalised the US Capitol building in Washington DC. At least 4 people were killed as they sought to delay the constitutional process to affirm Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 elections. It's not the first time the US Capitol had seen violence. Several attacks took place in the past on the iconic building — made by the British, Puerto Rican nationalists, a Harvard professor and Communist radicals. Here's a list of previous attacks on the iconic US Capitol building.
Image Credit: US Library of Congress, AP
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AUGUST 14, 1814: BRITISH ATTACK. The US Capitol building goes up in flames, as depicted by this hand-colored woodcut illustration. British forces tried to burn it after defeating the Americans at Bladensburg, a British force led by Maj-Gen. Robert Ross set fire to numerous government and military buildings, including the White House (then called the Presidential Mansion), the Capitol building, as well as other facilities of the US. They looted the building first, and then set the southern and northern wings ablaze, burning the Library of Congress.
Image Credit: AP
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JULY 2, 1915: DYNAMITE ATTACK. Frank Holt, a professor at Cornell, was suspected of smuggling three sticks of dynamite in a suitcase into the Capitol on July 2, 1915. The bo bs went off in the Senate's reception area hours later, causing damage. Holt was also suspected of sending a letter to a US newspaper paper under the moniker “R. Pearce”, expressing opposition to the US selling arms and munitions to Germany's enemies as World War I progressed. It turned out the suspect was neither Holt nor Pearce, but Erich Muenter, a German who was a Harvard professor suspected in the poisoning death of his wife in 1906. He had fled to Mexico and returned with an alias. Muenter was arrested and died in prison on July 6, 1915, following a fall. It was ruled a suicide.
Image Credit: US Library of Congress
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MARCH 1, 1954: PUERTO RICAN NATIONALISTS. While members of the US Congress were debating a bill concerning migrant Mexican workers, at least four people were killed in a terror attack by Puerto Rican nationalists. It was part of the push for nationhood for Puerto Rico and a push back at US colonialism. The attack came four years after a failed assassination attempt that targeted then-president Harry Truman (1950). Two years earlier, in 1952, a significant majority of Puerto Ricans voted for “commonwealth” status. Some nationalists called the vote a farce”. (From left) Puerto Rican nationalists Irvin Flores Rodríguez, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Lolita Lebrón and Andres Figueroa Cordero are seen in a police lineup in this March 1, 1954 photo, following a shooting attack at the U.S. Capitol. Cancel Miranda, the last surviving member of the group, died at his residence in San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 2, 2020. AP files
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MARCH 1, 1971: BOMBING BY LEFTISTS. Leftist militants, called the Weather Underground, claimed responsibility for a bomb placed in a men's washroom one floor below the US Senate chamber on March 1, 1971. The group said the bombing was in protest of the expansion of the US military presence in Southeast Asia, specifically to Laos. The bomb threat was phoned in overnight, 30 minutes before detonation. Given the time of day, no one was injured in the blast, but damage was estimated at $300,000. Several members of the Weather Underground served prison time for other attacks and activities, no one was ever arrested for the 1971 bombing. Photo shows law enforcement officers sifting through debris in a restroom in the US Capitol in 1971 after the blast.
Image Credit: AP File
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NOVEMBER 7, 1983: ATTACK BY LEFTISTS. A bomb blast hit parts of the US Senate building. The attack was motivated by USmilitary involvement in Lebanon and Grenada. Six members of the radical left-wing Resistance Conspiracy of the May 19th Communist Organisation were arrested in May 1988 and charged with the bombing, as well as related bombings of Fort McNair and the Washington Navy Yard which occurred April 25, 1983, and April 20, 1984, respectively. The attack led to heightened security in the DC metropolitan area, and the inaccessibility of certain parts of the Senate Building. Photo shows Sen. Mack Mattingly (R., Georgia) looking at the damage caused by the blast on the Senate side of the US Capitol building.
Image Credit: AP
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JULY 24, 1998: DERANGED GUNMAN. Two policemen died in an exchange of gunfire at a checkpoint inside the Capitol. Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson were killed when Russell Eugene Weston Jr., entered the Capitol and opened fire. Chestnut was killed instantly and Gibson died during surgery at George Washington University Hospital. Photo shows an unidentified victim being rushed to a medical evacuation helicopter.
Image Credit: AP
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1998: Gunman Russell Eugene Weston Jr. was later charged on July 26 for the murder of two US Capitol Police officers during the shooting rampage. Weston was taken to a mental institution diagnosed with a mental disorder (paranoid schizophrenia). Photo shows an unidentified victim being rushed to a medical evacuation helicopter.
Image Credit: AP
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MARCH 28, 2016: SHOOTING: US Capitol Police stand guard in the middle of Independence Avenue as people evacuate the Capitol Building after a shooting at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center on March 28, 2016.
Image Credit: AP
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